1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, generally, to the art of transporting sheet materials. More particularly, it relates to a dolly that enables a single person to transport and unload heavy sheet materials.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional dollies that transport heavy items of sheet material such as marble slabs require two (2) workers. The slab is transported on edge, tilted slightly from the vertical, and the lowermost end of the slab is positioned near a floor surface so that lifting the slab from the dolly requires extensive bending and lifting. It also takes two people to position the slab onto a horizontal flat surface to be covered by the slab.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,947,565 to Wood discloses a dolly capable of transporting various materials. It may be used to carry a large flat slab formed of marble or other heavy, easily breakable material. However, a single person working alone cannot remove such a large flat slab from the Wood dolly.
A first embodiment of the Wood dolly includes a flat vertical wall having a V-shaped cut out formed in it that could hold such a slab when paired with a similar flat vertical wall. The V-shape forms a trough that prevents the slab from sliding during transportation of the dolly. However, a single person of ordinary strength cannot lift a heavy slab from such a trough. Moreover, the trough prevents a single worker from rotating the slab into a horizontal plane onto a horizontal surface such as table top.
A second embodiment of the Wood dolly includes a flat vertical wall forming a flat frusto-conical shape so that two heavy slabs could be carried at the same time. That embodiment includes an inclined step near the bottom of the flat frusto-conical wall that forms a V-shape and thus a trough. Just as in the first embodiment, the V-shaped trough requires a worker to lift the slab from the trough and the trough also prevents the worker from rotating the slab onto a horizontal table top.
Wood discloses multiple further embodiments, but all of them include a trough which prevents a single worker from lifting a heavy slab therefrom and from rotating the slab onto a horizontal table top.
There is a need for a dolly that enables a single person to transport a marble slab or other item of sheet material and a single person to transfer the slab or other item from the dolly to a flat horizontal surface to be covered.
However, in view of the art considered as a whole at the time the present invention was made, it was not obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art how the needed dolly could be provided.